


Rudeness Will Not Be Tolerated In This Starbucks

by camwolfe



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-28
Updated: 2015-04-28
Packaged: 2018-03-26 03:12:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3834853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/camwolfe/pseuds/camwolfe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky's pretty sure that the Starbucks barista is spelling his name wrong on purpose. </p><p>Steve ISN'T doing it on purpose. Well, okay, maybe he is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rudeness Will Not Be Tolerated In This Starbucks

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Rudeness Will Not Be Tolerated In This Starbucks](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5269988) by [Halisa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Halisa/pseuds/Halisa)



> wow I have NO TIME TO BE WRITING FIC RIGHT NOW but I did this anyway
> 
> Based on the prompts in this [post](http://jonahryan.tumblr.com/post/117050708072/aus-for-when-your-otp-are-both-assholes)!
> 
> "I’m a barista and you’re the obnoxious customer who comes through and orders a venti macchiato while talking on the phone the whole time so I misspell your name in increasingly creative ways every day AU"
> 
> "I’m a busy businessperson and my barista keeps misspelling my name in increasingly disrespectful ways, honestly, who does this person think they are AU"

“This is _not_ what I paid for.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am,” Steve said automatically. He continued making someone else’s hot chocolate while maintaining eye contact with the angry woman. “What’s wrong with your drink?”

The woman, who looked to be in her mid-50s and was wearing an extensive amount of Burberry clothing, huffed impatiently. “There are clearly two pumps of mocha in this, and I only asked for one!”

Steve was 100% certain that he’d used one pump of mocha, but he smiled politely anyway. “I’m sorry. I’ll make you a new one.”

The woman (the name on her cup was Janice) narrowed her eyes at him, but Steve was already turning away and starting her drink order again.

He passed a teenage girl her hot chocolate and then remade Janice’s drink exactly the same way that he’d made it before.

“Here you go,” he said with a polite smile. “Just one pump of mocha this time.”

Janice took a tentative sip, and her face relaxed. “Much better. Although _now_ I’m going to be late for work.”

“Sorry,” Steve said again, already starting the next drink order. Janice waltzed out of the Starbucks.

“Can we ban her?” Sharon asked as she ducked around Steve to grab a fresh milk carton out of the fridge. “Can we, like, put her name on the wall or something and lock the door whenever she approaches?”

“I wish,” Steve said sadly. He passed a double chocolaty chip frappuccino over the counter. “But if we did that for every irritating customer…”

“We’d have barely any customers,” Sharon said solemnly. She and Steve shared a tragic look before turning back to their respective tasks.

 

He and Sharon switched roles an hour later, leaving Steve on the cash register and Sharon at the drink counter. The pros of being on the cash register were that Steve didn’t have to deal with angry unsatisfied customers. The cons were that he had to deal with assholes like the one standing in front of Steve now.

He’d walked through the door a few moments ago, talking loudly on his phone. He had a messenger bag thrown over his shoulder and an Iphone pressed to his ear.

He was almost as tall as Steve, and Steve might even think he was handsome if he wasn’t being so irritating.

The guy had been talking loudly into his phone as he stood in line, and he was still talking as he finally walked up to the register.

“Good morning,” Steve said pleasantly. “What can I get for you today?”

“No, no, I said the file that’s in the bottom right drawer,” the man snapped into his phone. He glanced over at Steve and pointed to the menu above him. “No, not the one that’s locked. The one above that. Yeah.”

Steve bit back a sigh. The menu had dozens of items listed on it. He had no way of knowing which drink the guy wanted. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

The guy rolled his eyes and held the phone away from his face for a moment. “Venti macchiato.”

Steve nodded and grabbed a cup, scribbling the order down. “Could I get your name?”

“Yeah, it’s the one in the red folder. No, the left side of the folder.”

Steve was tempted to write down ‘Red Folder’ as the guy’s name, but he refrained. Because he was a responsible adult and didn’t do things like that. “Sir?”

The guy sighed again and finally looked at Steve. “Bucky.”

It was a strange name, but not the weirdest that Steve had heard. He assumed it was spelled ‘Bucky’, but Steve hated it when people treated him like he wasn’t worth actually speaking to, just because he worked at Starbucks.

He wrote down ‘Bukky’ and slid the cup over to Sharon.

“Anything else?” Steve asked, but Bucky just passed him a Starbucks card and turned away.

Steve clenched his jaw, did the transaction, and then handed the card back. He then turned to the next customer with a smile.

He noticed Bucky narrowing his eyes at him as he walked by Steve again to leave, but Steve just smiled politely at him.

 

Bucky was back again the next morning, much to Steve’s despair.

He wasn’t talking on his phone this time, at least, but he was typing rapidly on it. He nearly bowled over a mother with a baby strapped to her chest when he came through the door, staring down at his phone.

“Good morning,” Steve said, keeping his smile firmly in place. “What can I get for you today?”

“Caramel macchiato,” Bucky said, without looking up from his phone.

“Anything else?”

“No.”

Steve gritted his teeth. It really ruined his morning when people didn’t at least say hi, or greet him in any way. He was a human being, for god’s sake.

“Could I grab your name?” Steve asked, keeping his irritation out of his voice.

“Bucky,” he said, and held his card out without looking up. Steve swiped it and then handed it back. Bucky walked to the other end of the counter to wait for his order without looking back.

Steve narrowed his eyes and wrote ‘Bucy’ on the cup.

 

Steve was focusing on putting the right amount of whipped cream onto a frappuccino when Bucky walked by him again, but he knew Bucky was giving him a pointed look.

 

To Steve’s relief, Bucky’s phone was nowhere in sight the next morning.

Bucky looked tired as he walked up to the counter. There were dark circles under his eyes, and his hair was mussed.

“Good morning,” Steve said, already reaching for a cup. “What can – “

“Grande cappuccino,” Bucky said, blinking sleepily.

“Okay,” Steve said, writing it down on the cup. “Would you like something to eat with that?”

“If I wanted something to eat, I’d have ordered it,” Bucky snapped.

Steve felt the smile slip off his face. He glared at Bucky over the register.

“There’s no need to be rude,” Steve said coldly, and immediately regretted it. He was going to be in trouble.

Bucky frowned, staring at Steve. He looked a little bewildered.

“That’ll be 5.47,” Steve said quickly. Bucky wordlessly held his card out.

Steve wrote ‘Buckee’ on the cup and felt a little better. At least, he felt better until Sam walked up behind him with his arms crossed.

“Steve…” Sam said slowly.

“I know,” Steve said with a sigh. “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

“Steve, you’re a good employee,” Sam said. “But you can’t keep snapping at the customers.”

“But – “

“The customer is always right!” Sam called over his shoulder as he walked away. Steve sighed.

 

Steve sighed inwardly when he saw Bucky walk through the door the next morning.

“Good morning,” Steve said, gritting his teeth and trying to smile as politely as he could. “What can I get for you today?”

“Good morning,” Bucky said. Steve blinked in surprise. “Could I get a caramel macchiato please? Grande?”

“Of course,” Steve said, his smile relaxing into something more natural. He didn’t dare ask if Bucky wanted anything to eat, though, even if he was acting a little more nicely this morning.

Bucky held his card out, and Steve swiped it and handed it back.

“Thanks,” Bucky said. He smiled at Steve.

Steve grabbed a cup and his pen, looking at Bucky expectantly. “Could I get your name?”

Bucky’s face fell a little, like he’d expected Steve to remember him. “Oh. Bucky.”

“Alright, one caramel macchiato, coming right up,” Steve said pleasantly. “Have a nice morning.”

Bucky walked a little ways away to wait for his drink. Steve wrote “Bucki” on the cup and handed it to Sharon, because one nice morning didn’t make up for days of rudeness.

It was the morning rush, and Steve forgot about Bucky in his haste to make three coffees and a hot chocolate at once.

“Okay, you’re fucking with me,” Bucky said. Steve looked up from where he was sprinkling chocolate shavings onto the hot chocolate.

Bucky was leaning over the counter, his drink in his hand. He was smiling.

“Excuse me?” Steve said.

“You have to be fucking with me,” Bucky said again. “There’s no way you can keep messing up my name this badly.”

“I’m sorry,” Steve said blandly. “How is it spelled? I’ll try and get it right the next time.”

Bucky narrowed his eyes. It looked like he knew that Steve was, indeed, fucking with him, but he wasn’t quite sure enough to call him out on it.

“B – U – C- K- Y,” Bucky said.

“Great,” Steve said. “I’ll try and remember that.”

Bucky looked like he wanted to say something else, but people were jostling him in their haste to get to their coffee. He disappeared into the crowd of people, and Steve started divvying out the drinks he’d just finished making.

 

Steve wasn’t working the cash register the next morning, and he didn’t even realize that Bucky was there until Sharon handed him a cup with his name written on it.

Steve was working on Bucky’s drink (a latte) when heard Bucky’s now familiar voice say “hi.”

“Good morning,” Steve said automatically. He looked up and held out the finished drink.

“Thanks,” Bucky said with a smile.

“You’re welcome,” Steve said, already turning back to start work on a strawberry frappuccino.

“Um,” Bucky said awkwardly from behind him. “I wanted to apologize.”

Steve stopped what he was doing and turned around. “For what?”

To his credit, Bucky actually looked pretty contrite. “For being rude, a few days ago. And, ah, probably a few days before that.”

“Oh,” Steve said. “Uh, that’s alright.”

“No, it’s not,” Bucky said firmly. “I don’t have an excuse, other than that I was stressed and tired.”

Steve stared at him. He definitely was not used to rude customers apologizing. “Well, thank you, I guess.”

Bucky started to say something else, but he was interrupted by a guy who physically shouldered him out of the way to lean over the counter.

“Where the fuck is my frapp?” the guy nearly shouted. “I’ve been waiting for _three minutes_ and you’re just standing there talking – “

“Sorry,” Steve said hastily. “It’ll just be a second.”

By the time that Steve had given his guy the frappuccino and dealt with a few more snarky customers, Bucky was gone. Steve had to admit that he was a little disappointed.

 

He was back the next morning,

“Good morning, Steve,” Bucky said pleasantly.

Steve looked up from where he was trying to reboot the cash register as quickly as he could. “How do you know my name?”

Bucky raised his eyebrows. “You’re wearing a nametag.”

“Oh,” Steve said. “Right.”

Bucky grinned. “Bonus points if you remember my name.”

Steve, who still hadn’t quite completely forgiven Bucky for his rudeness, shrugged. “We get a lot of people through here every morning.”

Bucky looked disappointed, and Steve actually felt kind of bad. “Oh. Well, anyway, can I get a café mocha please?”

“Of course,” Steve said. He took Bucky’s card and swiped it before handing it back. “Have a good day.”

“You too,” Bucky said with another smile.

Steve grabbed a cup and wrote “Buhcky.”

 

“I did not tell you my name today,” Bucky said triumphantly a moment later. He’d reappeared at the cash register. “I knew you remembered me.”

Steve shrugged and tried not to smile. “Hey, it’s a weird name.”

“It’s not _that_ weird!”

“It’s pretty weird.”

Bucky grinned at him, clearly unbothered by Steve making fun of his name. “Would it be weird if I asked you out for coffee?”

Steve nearly dropped the cup he was holding. “What?”

Bucky shrugged. “Do you want to go out for coffee sometime?”

Steve stared at him. “I work in a Starbucks.”

“Does that mean you never drink coffee?”

“Well, no,” Steve said awkwardly.

"So..." Bucky said slowly. 

"Can you two stop flirting?" a woman snapped from behind Bucky. "I need my coffee." 

"Sorry," Steve said hastily. "Yes, Bucky. It's a yes." 

Bucky grinned, and ducked out of the line. 

"Steve," Sam said warningly from behind him. 

"I know!" Steve protested. "It won't happen again!"

 

Considering Bucky was back again the next morning, and the one after that... yeah, it happened again. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on tumblr [here](http://cameronwolfe.tumblr.com)!


End file.
